Copies of family photographs in protective sleeves. Check.
Laptop with family history data. Check.
Digital recorder for taping the family sharing memories. Check.
Interrogation lamp so we can finally get Aunt Delilah to crack and spill those family secrets. Check.
OK, maybe that last one’s going a bit too far, but when you’re the family historian, your pre-holiday checklist is probably going to be a little different than that of others. You know that family get- togethers are the best place to find answers to your family history mysteries.
Whether you are planning on conducting formal interviews or just a little discreet prying, a little pre-planning can go a long way. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your time with family.
—Make some time to review your family tree. Look at what you’ve learned this past year and what you still need to know. Is there a family member who might hold the key to that mystery you’ve been working on? Perhaps sharing a recent find will prompt a memory that gets you on the road to discovery.
—If you’re planning a formal interview, try to include some fun questions. Instead of asking what month great-grandma died, ask for memories of the funeral. Who was there? Known death dates of those in attendance, or knowing who would have been available to attend the event at that time, might help narrow down the time frame. What was the weather like? Was it summer or winter? Was it around a holiday? If the event took place at a home, where was it? This information, coupled with the facts found in directories, can help you determine what years your family lived in a residence. Go for more than just names and dates. Flesh out your family tree with childhood memories by asking questions like those on this list in the Ancestry.com Library.
—Make sure your online tree or software has the most current information and attach records. While the mere sight of a pedigree chart can send some relatives running for cover, who can resist a photograph or the passenger arrival record of your immigrant ancestor?
—Make a “Favorites List” for the kids (and the grown-ups). There’s a sample list here in the Ancestry.com Library. If you’ve done this in the past, bring out copies of past lists too. Now that they’re “all grown up,” the kids will get a kick out of seeing what their favorite songs, stars, and books were five years ago.
by Juliana Smith
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Saying Sorry
Chinese Women's Culture in New Zealand
YWCA Lecture
Liz Ngan, 13 October 1992
I am here today to talk about Chinese women's culture in Aotearoa. To me this means: what our lives have been like in this country, what we have retained from our cultural past and what we do to deal with the present.
I haven't always found it easy being part of a visible minority. If, for example, I was first or second generation Scots would so many people ask me if I was born here, or would kids call me names in the street? If you belong to a majority culture, you don't have to question who you are or why you are here. If you are outside that majority, others will ask those questions for you.
By telling you about some women in my family you may see how the opportunities and expectations of Chinese women have changed over time. You will also see how different women deal with the challenges of being Chinese in this country.
The Chinese in this country come not only from China but also from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Fiji, Canary Islands and so on. Chinese people as a race are dispersed throughout the world. Both sides of my family come from the South China province of Guangzhou. On Dad's side it was his parents who emigrated here. My Grandfather came out late last century (19th), as a teacher of English and Chinese. My Grandmother, A-Ma arrived here in the 1920s. A-Ma was a second wife. My Grandfather married her because he wanted more sons. Back then in China man could have as many wives as he could support. His first wife had had three sons, but two of them had died in adulthood. When he married A-Ma, she was about the same age as his eldest son. I don't know what A-Ma's level of education was like. I don't ever remember seeing her reading or writing. But then again, most of the books around our house were in English and she didn't speak much English.
Not long after Dad was born here my Grandfather and A-Ma took the family back to China. They considered that their prospects were better in China. Although my Grandfather was a naturalised British citizen, he was not entitled to a pension, for example.
A-Ma didn't return to New Zealand for ten years, until the Sino-Japanese war concentrated on Guangzhou. Dad and his brother had been sent back to Wellington earlier. A-Ma and her daughter travelled through China by night to escape via Hong Kong. They left Hong Kong just as the Japanese declared war on Britain, A-Ma worked hard here to support her family. She worked in fruit shops, she did odd jobs like helping in laundries. She worked hard to survive. Eventually she borrowed enough money to start a fruit shop in Mirimar. A-Ma wasn't only working for her family who had escaped the war. Two sons had been left behind in China. One was her natural son, the other was the son of the third wife. It was always her ambition to reunite the family.
Sadly, this never happened while she was alive. My memories of A-Ma are of an old woman sitting in the sun at our house knitting jerseys and cardigans for her grandchildren back in Guangzhou. That and her taking a long draw on a Matinee cigarette while waiting for the tea to cook. I wish now that I could have spoken with her in Cantonese. If the language barrier wasn't there I would know a lot more about her and I could've heard her stories first hand.
In contrast to A-Ma, I have heard a lot of stories from my Nan. Mum's mother Dolly Wong was born in Wellington in 1911 over a fruit shop in Cuba Street. Nan's father emigrated here first and when he became established in business he sent back to the village for a wife. Nan had nine surviving brothers and sisters. She is the youngest of the three daughters, but not the youngest in the family. Nan was educated at Clyde Quay School and stayed until she did her proficiency. She was12 when her father said, "Enough education, you will work in the shop from now on." The shop was Te Aro Seed Company in Courtney Place. Although her father was strict, Nan found ways around the rules that were imposed.
She loved ballet and always wanted to dance, but her father didn't think it was proper behaviour. For a whole year she went off to ballet classes without her father's knowledge. Her eldest brother, George, paid for her lessons. At the end of the year the teacher said that there would be a recital and Nan would've loved to be in it. But she realised that her father would find out that she'd been going to the lessons, so she had to give it all up. Another thing that was forbidden was for the kids to eat fish and chips in the living quarters above the shop. Nan's older sisters, Lily and Daisy, would send her out with some money to the chip shop. When she got back, they'd lower a basket out of the bedroom window and haul the goodies up.
When Nan was 16 she went to China to complete her education. She went back with her parents and some of her brothers, and they lived in Guangzhou City. "Completing her education" meant learning to read and write Chinese and to know what her homeland was like. Most of her brothers and sisters spent time in Guangzhou for the same reasons.
Nan was lonely there. She missed her home and friends. One of the things she missed most were the cream doughnuts. After three years of studying Nan asked her father if she could take a job at the library where one of her cousins worked. He said, "No, because you'll be getting married." Nan's wedding to My Goong was arranged. She didn't want to get married but there was no choice. Luckily, she had met Goong before the wedding so he wasn't a complete stranger.
Also Goong had been working in New Zealand since he was a boy. He spoke and wrote English fluently and he knew what life was like here. Nan's sisters, Daisy and Lily, chose their own husbands, meeting them through church groups. One was a Baptist, the other was an Anglican. Both of them married in New Zealand and my great-grandfather wanted at least one of his daughters to have a traditional wedding in China. So probably that decision was made for Nan long before she knew.
Nan and Goong returned to New Zealand in the 1930s. In 1938 they took over the General Store at Utiku, near Taihape. Through running the General Store and having the cream and mail runs, Nan and Goong were very involved in the local community. They had five children in all and were the only Chinese family in Utiku. Later Nan and Goong moved to Lower Hutt where they still live. Although my great-grandfather had prevented Nan from working in the library in Guangzhou, she certainly worked hard for the rest of her life.
Mum, Jean Ngan, is Nan's eldest daughter. She has two brothers and two sisters. She remembers the years in Utiku as really happy, even although it was the end of the Depression and then World War II. As country kids she thought that her parents sheltered them from the hardships. Mum, like her brothers and sisters, spoke Cantonese up until the time she started school. From then on English was spoken at home, Cantonese became the language used by Nan and Goong if they wanted to speak in private. When visiting her grandparents as a teenager, she regretted that she couldn't speak more Cantonese.
Mum stayed at school till the fourth form (Yr 10). She did elocution lessons, learnt the piano and the organ and with her sister Marina played lots of sports. (Mum and her sisters' English names are Jeanette, Marina and Helene. Their Chinese names are Zhen-Ling, (Pure Lotus), Mei-Ling (Beautiful Lotus) and Hei-Ling (Happy Lotus).) The reason Mum left school when she was 15 was to help in the General Store, as Nan was expecting Helene. Mum says that no-one asked her to leave school. She just felt, as the eldest daughter, that she should. Her one condition was that when she turned 18 she would go and do her nursing training. There was one other time when Mum put her own plans on hold to help out the family. After she finished her nuring training and staffing at Hutt Hospital in 1956, she took a year out to help Nan and Goong in their fruit shop in Nae Nae. She says she hated it but again she felt she should do it. In 1959 Mum married Dad. She said there was an expectation that she would marry a Chinese man. The places where Chinese met each other were at dances and weddings. Mum met Dad when he his brother and a cousin went round to play Mah Jong with Goong. Mum gave up nursing when my brother was born in 1960. I came along in 1964 and Mum didn't return to nursing until I was in third form (Yr 9).
Mum is still nursing, and though it's often stressful, she really enjoys it, especially meeting and helping so many people. In the practice where she is head nurse, she finds the Asian patients are more open to her because she is Chinese. Again, she wishes she could speak Cantonese as it would make her dealings with the patients easier.
As for myself, I was born in Lower Hutt and grew up in Stokes Valley. My educational opportunities were greater than Mum's or Nan's. I don't ever remember deciding to go to university. It was just considered the natural follow-on from college. There weren't many Chinese kids at any of the schools I went to. The only Chinese people I knew were my relatives.
The only place I would see a lot of Chinese people would be at weddings, 80th birthday parties, the first month parties given to children, and other family celebrations. Growing up I found it hard to accept that I was Chinese. I actively disliked being different from other kids. And I actively hated the racism and petty name-calling. When I was 14 I decided, well, there's no way I can be anything else, I might as well be proud of my heritage. Since then I have listened more carefully to the family stories.
When I got to university, I studied Mandarin Chinese language and culture as part of my Arts degree. I learnt to read and write and speak. I appreciated how hard Nan must have studied in Guangzhou, at a similar age to me. The type of job possibilities for me were limited only by my imagination. There was no family business for me to work in, no particular profession that my parents wanted me to follow. Perhaps because there were no guidelines, that's the reason it took me so long to find something I enjoyed and was challenged by! After three years of library work and learning to weave, I moved into computing.
One of the things I enjoy about my life now, as opposed to when I was growing up, is that I have lots of Chinese women friends. They are supportive and loving. I often feel I can speak more freely with them than with other friends, because we share a bond of being different.
In particular when someone has been verbally or violently racist towards me like the day a man took a swing at me with piece of roofing iron and said he wished he'd killed "us" all in the war, the support is there. There's no question that you provoked him or that the world needs less people like that.
From the stories I've told you, I hope you have gained some idea of what it can be like to be a Chinese women in this country. While holding onto the culture they were brought up with, my Grandmothers made a life for themselves and their families. My mother as second generation New Zealand born Chinese, had more choice in her personal and professional life. But she still bore in mind family obligations and expectations.
For me the choices were even greater, including the choice of accepting or denying my Chinese identity. I am glad I accepted it. I am glad also of the opportunity to tell you of the struggles and achievements of the women in my family. And to share with you the richness that comes from being a Chinese woman in Aotearoa.
Liz Ngan of Wellington has kindly given her permission to use her 1992 YWCA lecture notes in this unit.
Re: Saying Sorry
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/socialscience/curriculum/SSOL/sorry/story_e.php
YWCA Lecture
Liz Ngan, 13 October 1992
I am here today to talk about Chinese women's culture in Aotearoa. To me this means: what our lives have been like in this country, what we have retained from our cultural past and what we do to deal with the present.
I haven't always found it easy being part of a visible minority. If, for example, I was first or second generation Scots would so many people ask me if I was born here, or would kids call me names in the street? If you belong to a majority culture, you don't have to question who you are or why you are here. If you are outside that majority, others will ask those questions for you.
By telling you about some women in my family you may see how the opportunities and expectations of Chinese women have changed over time. You will also see how different women deal with the challenges of being Chinese in this country.
The Chinese in this country come not only from China but also from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Fiji, Canary Islands and so on. Chinese people as a race are dispersed throughout the world. Both sides of my family come from the South China province of Guangzhou. On Dad's side it was his parents who emigrated here. My Grandfather came out late last century (19th), as a teacher of English and Chinese. My Grandmother, A-Ma arrived here in the 1920s. A-Ma was a second wife. My Grandfather married her because he wanted more sons. Back then in China man could have as many wives as he could support. His first wife had had three sons, but two of them had died in adulthood. When he married A-Ma, she was about the same age as his eldest son. I don't know what A-Ma's level of education was like. I don't ever remember seeing her reading or writing. But then again, most of the books around our house were in English and she didn't speak much English.
Not long after Dad was born here my Grandfather and A-Ma took the family back to China. They considered that their prospects were better in China. Although my Grandfather was a naturalised British citizen, he was not entitled to a pension, for example.
A-Ma didn't return to New Zealand for ten years, until the Sino-Japanese war concentrated on Guangzhou. Dad and his brother had been sent back to Wellington earlier. A-Ma and her daughter travelled through China by night to escape via Hong Kong. They left Hong Kong just as the Japanese declared war on Britain, A-Ma worked hard here to support her family. She worked in fruit shops, she did odd jobs like helping in laundries. She worked hard to survive. Eventually she borrowed enough money to start a fruit shop in Mirimar. A-Ma wasn't only working for her family who had escaped the war. Two sons had been left behind in China. One was her natural son, the other was the son of the third wife. It was always her ambition to reunite the family.
Sadly, this never happened while she was alive. My memories of A-Ma are of an old woman sitting in the sun at our house knitting jerseys and cardigans for her grandchildren back in Guangzhou. That and her taking a long draw on a Matinee cigarette while waiting for the tea to cook. I wish now that I could have spoken with her in Cantonese. If the language barrier wasn't there I would know a lot more about her and I could've heard her stories first hand.
In contrast to A-Ma, I have heard a lot of stories from my Nan. Mum's mother Dolly Wong was born in Wellington in 1911 over a fruit shop in Cuba Street. Nan's father emigrated here first and when he became established in business he sent back to the village for a wife. Nan had nine surviving brothers and sisters. She is the youngest of the three daughters, but not the youngest in the family. Nan was educated at Clyde Quay School and stayed until she did her proficiency. She was12 when her father said, "Enough education, you will work in the shop from now on." The shop was Te Aro Seed Company in Courtney Place. Although her father was strict, Nan found ways around the rules that were imposed.
She loved ballet and always wanted to dance, but her father didn't think it was proper behaviour. For a whole year she went off to ballet classes without her father's knowledge. Her eldest brother, George, paid for her lessons. At the end of the year the teacher said that there would be a recital and Nan would've loved to be in it. But she realised that her father would find out that she'd been going to the lessons, so she had to give it all up. Another thing that was forbidden was for the kids to eat fish and chips in the living quarters above the shop. Nan's older sisters, Lily and Daisy, would send her out with some money to the chip shop. When she got back, they'd lower a basket out of the bedroom window and haul the goodies up.
When Nan was 16 she went to China to complete her education. She went back with her parents and some of her brothers, and they lived in Guangzhou City. "Completing her education" meant learning to read and write Chinese and to know what her homeland was like. Most of her brothers and sisters spent time in Guangzhou for the same reasons.
Nan was lonely there. She missed her home and friends. One of the things she missed most were the cream doughnuts. After three years of studying Nan asked her father if she could take a job at the library where one of her cousins worked. He said, "No, because you'll be getting married." Nan's wedding to My Goong was arranged. She didn't want to get married but there was no choice. Luckily, she had met Goong before the wedding so he wasn't a complete stranger.
Also Goong had been working in New Zealand since he was a boy. He spoke and wrote English fluently and he knew what life was like here. Nan's sisters, Daisy and Lily, chose their own husbands, meeting them through church groups. One was a Baptist, the other was an Anglican. Both of them married in New Zealand and my great-grandfather wanted at least one of his daughters to have a traditional wedding in China. So probably that decision was made for Nan long before she knew.
Nan and Goong returned to New Zealand in the 1930s. In 1938 they took over the General Store at Utiku, near Taihape. Through running the General Store and having the cream and mail runs, Nan and Goong were very involved in the local community. They had five children in all and were the only Chinese family in Utiku. Later Nan and Goong moved to Lower Hutt where they still live. Although my great-grandfather had prevented Nan from working in the library in Guangzhou, she certainly worked hard for the rest of her life.
Mum, Jean Ngan, is Nan's eldest daughter. She has two brothers and two sisters. She remembers the years in Utiku as really happy, even although it was the end of the Depression and then World War II. As country kids she thought that her parents sheltered them from the hardships. Mum, like her brothers and sisters, spoke Cantonese up until the time she started school. From then on English was spoken at home, Cantonese became the language used by Nan and Goong if they wanted to speak in private. When visiting her grandparents as a teenager, she regretted that she couldn't speak more Cantonese.
Mum stayed at school till the fourth form (Yr 10). She did elocution lessons, learnt the piano and the organ and with her sister Marina played lots of sports. (Mum and her sisters' English names are Jeanette, Marina and Helene. Their Chinese names are Zhen-Ling, (Pure Lotus), Mei-Ling (Beautiful Lotus) and Hei-Ling (Happy Lotus).) The reason Mum left school when she was 15 was to help in the General Store, as Nan was expecting Helene. Mum says that no-one asked her to leave school. She just felt, as the eldest daughter, that she should. Her one condition was that when she turned 18 she would go and do her nursing training. There was one other time when Mum put her own plans on hold to help out the family. After she finished her nuring training and staffing at Hutt Hospital in 1956, she took a year out to help Nan and Goong in their fruit shop in Nae Nae. She says she hated it but again she felt she should do it. In 1959 Mum married Dad. She said there was an expectation that she would marry a Chinese man. The places where Chinese met each other were at dances and weddings. Mum met Dad when he his brother and a cousin went round to play Mah Jong with Goong. Mum gave up nursing when my brother was born in 1960. I came along in 1964 and Mum didn't return to nursing until I was in third form (Yr 9).
Mum is still nursing, and though it's often stressful, she really enjoys it, especially meeting and helping so many people. In the practice where she is head nurse, she finds the Asian patients are more open to her because she is Chinese. Again, she wishes she could speak Cantonese as it would make her dealings with the patients easier.
As for myself, I was born in Lower Hutt and grew up in Stokes Valley. My educational opportunities were greater than Mum's or Nan's. I don't ever remember deciding to go to university. It was just considered the natural follow-on from college. There weren't many Chinese kids at any of the schools I went to. The only Chinese people I knew were my relatives.
The only place I would see a lot of Chinese people would be at weddings, 80th birthday parties, the first month parties given to children, and other family celebrations. Growing up I found it hard to accept that I was Chinese. I actively disliked being different from other kids. And I actively hated the racism and petty name-calling. When I was 14 I decided, well, there's no way I can be anything else, I might as well be proud of my heritage. Since then I have listened more carefully to the family stories.
When I got to university, I studied Mandarin Chinese language and culture as part of my Arts degree. I learnt to read and write and speak. I appreciated how hard Nan must have studied in Guangzhou, at a similar age to me. The type of job possibilities for me were limited only by my imagination. There was no family business for me to work in, no particular profession that my parents wanted me to follow. Perhaps because there were no guidelines, that's the reason it took me so long to find something I enjoyed and was challenged by! After three years of library work and learning to weave, I moved into computing.
One of the things I enjoy about my life now, as opposed to when I was growing up, is that I have lots of Chinese women friends. They are supportive and loving. I often feel I can speak more freely with them than with other friends, because we share a bond of being different.
In particular when someone has been verbally or violently racist towards me like the day a man took a swing at me with piece of roofing iron and said he wished he'd killed "us" all in the war, the support is there. There's no question that you provoked him or that the world needs less people like that.
From the stories I've told you, I hope you have gained some idea of what it can be like to be a Chinese women in this country. While holding onto the culture they were brought up with, my Grandmothers made a life for themselves and their families. My mother as second generation New Zealand born Chinese, had more choice in her personal and professional life. But she still bore in mind family obligations and expectations.
For me the choices were even greater, including the choice of accepting or denying my Chinese identity. I am glad I accepted it. I am glad also of the opportunity to tell you of the struggles and achievements of the women in my family. And to share with you the richness that comes from being a Chinese woman in Aotearoa.
Liz Ngan of Wellington has kindly given her permission to use her 1992 YWCA lecture notes in this unit.
Re: Saying Sorry
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/socialscience/curriculum/SSOL/sorry/story_e.php
Hutt sister-in-law centenarians celebrate together
As milestones go turning 100 is a rare occasion. It's even more special when sisters-in-law celebrate the occasion within a few days of each other.
Avalon's Shona McFarlane Retirement Home hosted the first of a double event on Friday when family and friends of Dolly Wong gathered to mark her 100th birthday. They'll be back on Thursday for the 100th birthday of her sister-in-law, Molly Ting.
Until six months ago Dolly and Molly lived next door to one another, but due to failing health Molly now lives in a different wing of the complex.
Close family ties, hard work and community service have been features of both women's lives.
The Ting and Wong families have strong ties to the Chinese community and have been long time members of the capital's Tung Jung Association of New Zealand. The group was founded in 1926 to help Chinese migrants who faced numerous prejudices socially and in business.
Dolly Wong was born in Cuba St, the eighth of 13 children. Her parents James Chin Ting and Ng Shee Ting ran the Te Aro Seed Company in Courtenay Pl for many years.
"Nan grew up above the shop on the corner of Tory St and Courtenay Pl and went to Clyde Quay School," said granddaughter Liz Ngan.
At 16 she and some of the family returned to China to learn to read and write Chinese and learn some of the classics.
She married Willie Wong, who was also raised in New Zealand, and the couple returned here in the 1930s, eventually taking over the general store at Utiku near Taihape and raising their five children there. The family moved to Lower Hutt in 1950 and ran the Rata St Fruit supply until their retirement.
A keen crafter, Dolly was skilled at embroidery, sewing, knitting and crochet. She was also an excellent pianist and "played a mean ukulele".
"Nan also loved the ballet, reading, shopping down Lambton Quay, going to dances and seeing her family grow and do well," Liz Ngan said.
Dolly said: "You never think you're going to make it this far, but I'm so pleased to be able to see my great grandchildren grow."
She was also "thrilled" to receive cards from the Queen and the Prime Minister.
"I just want to say how kind everyone is and I'm very pleased that we're here one and all to celebrate this birthday."
- Hutt News
LEE-ANNE EDWARDS
Last updated 15:39 01/11/2011
Avalon's Shona McFarlane Retirement Home hosted the first of a double event on Friday when family and friends of Dolly Wong gathered to mark her 100th birthday. They'll be back on Thursday for the 100th birthday of her sister-in-law, Molly Ting.
Until six months ago Dolly and Molly lived next door to one another, but due to failing health Molly now lives in a different wing of the complex.
Close family ties, hard work and community service have been features of both women's lives.
The Ting and Wong families have strong ties to the Chinese community and have been long time members of the capital's Tung Jung Association of New Zealand. The group was founded in 1926 to help Chinese migrants who faced numerous prejudices socially and in business.
Dolly Wong was born in Cuba St, the eighth of 13 children. Her parents James Chin Ting and Ng Shee Ting ran the Te Aro Seed Company in Courtenay Pl for many years.
"Nan grew up above the shop on the corner of Tory St and Courtenay Pl and went to Clyde Quay School," said granddaughter Liz Ngan.
At 16 she and some of the family returned to China to learn to read and write Chinese and learn some of the classics.
She married Willie Wong, who was also raised in New Zealand, and the couple returned here in the 1930s, eventually taking over the general store at Utiku near Taihape and raising their five children there. The family moved to Lower Hutt in 1950 and ran the Rata St Fruit supply until their retirement.
A keen crafter, Dolly was skilled at embroidery, sewing, knitting and crochet. She was also an excellent pianist and "played a mean ukulele".
"Nan also loved the ballet, reading, shopping down Lambton Quay, going to dances and seeing her family grow and do well," Liz Ngan said.
Dolly said: "You never think you're going to make it this far, but I'm so pleased to be able to see my great grandchildren grow."
She was also "thrilled" to receive cards from the Queen and the Prime Minister.
"I just want to say how kind everyone is and I'm very pleased that we're here one and all to celebrate this birthday."
- Hutt News
LEE-ANNE EDWARDS
Last updated 15:39 01/11/2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
heatre
Theatre Review: The Bone Feeder, Tapac Theatre
By Paul Simei-Barton
5:30 AM Saturday Nov 12, 2011
Of all the ships wrecked off the Hokianga, few can have been carrying stranger cargo than the SS Ventnor, dispatched from the Otago goldfields in 1902 with the coffins of 499 miners who had hoped to have their bones returned to their families in China.
In the hands of playwright Renee Liang, this intriguing historical incident becomes a springboard for a powerful drama in which longing for a return to the ancestral homeland is set against the immigrants' desire to put down roots in their adopted home.
While focusing on a particular community, the play explores how this continuously evolving dialectic shapes the identity of all who arrive, then find themselves staying in a new country.
The story unfolds through a clever, multi-layered structure that swings back and forward in time and encompasses the voices of both the living and the dead.
A fifth-generation Chinese New Zealander investigating the shipwreck is drawn in to a strange encounter with the ghosts of the miners who have made a home for themselves in the Hokianga after their bones were re-buried by the local iwi.
This fascinating cultural reunion is observed and facilitated by a Maori ferryman played by Rob Mokaraka, who brings a wonderfully engaging, laconic humour to the whole enterprise.
The multiple voices are neatly complemented by a rich variety of story-telling techniques and director Lauren Jackson does a superb job in seamlessly bringing together puppetry, dance, song, martial arts, shadow screens and aerial acrobatics.
On occasions, the magic realist style seems to move too easily between the world of the living and the dead but the mystery of the spiritual dimension is restored as the play abandons dialogue and communicates through finely choreographed dance sequences.
The rich visual tapestry is beautifully supported by a remarkable soundtrack that is performed live with an intricate blend of Chinese and Maori instruments.
The large cast establishes a strong physical presence with plenty of mischievous humour and the two lead roles are both well handled, with Kevin Ng capturing the awkwardness of a modern Kiwi kid who finds himself well outside of his comfort zone, while Gary Young convincingly portrays the emotional journey of a character from another time.
What: The Bone Feeder.
By Paul Simei-Barton
5:30 AM Saturday Nov 12, 2011
Of all the ships wrecked off the Hokianga, few can have been carrying stranger cargo than the SS Ventnor, dispatched from the Otago goldfields in 1902 with the coffins of 499 miners who had hoped to have their bones returned to their families in China.
In the hands of playwright Renee Liang, this intriguing historical incident becomes a springboard for a powerful drama in which longing for a return to the ancestral homeland is set against the immigrants' desire to put down roots in their adopted home.
While focusing on a particular community, the play explores how this continuously evolving dialectic shapes the identity of all who arrive, then find themselves staying in a new country.
The story unfolds through a clever, multi-layered structure that swings back and forward in time and encompasses the voices of both the living and the dead.
A fifth-generation Chinese New Zealander investigating the shipwreck is drawn in to a strange encounter with the ghosts of the miners who have made a home for themselves in the Hokianga after their bones were re-buried by the local iwi.
This fascinating cultural reunion is observed and facilitated by a Maori ferryman played by Rob Mokaraka, who brings a wonderfully engaging, laconic humour to the whole enterprise.
The multiple voices are neatly complemented by a rich variety of story-telling techniques and director Lauren Jackson does a superb job in seamlessly bringing together puppetry, dance, song, martial arts, shadow screens and aerial acrobatics.
On occasions, the magic realist style seems to move too easily between the world of the living and the dead but the mystery of the spiritual dimension is restored as the play abandons dialogue and communicates through finely choreographed dance sequences.
The rich visual tapestry is beautifully supported by a remarkable soundtrack that is performed live with an intricate blend of Chinese and Maori instruments.
The large cast establishes a strong physical presence with plenty of mischievous humour and the two lead roles are both well handled, with Kevin Ng capturing the awkwardness of a modern Kiwi kid who finds himself well outside of his comfort zone, while Gary Young convincingly portrays the emotional journey of a character from another time.
What: The Bone Feeder.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
The lovely bones
By Dionne Christian
11:16 AM Saturday Nov 5, 2011
In a Grey Lynn art gallery and studio packed with trestle tables and stacks of chairs, pots of paint, lumps of clay and half-finished drawings, an artist diligently keeps his eyes on his work rather than stepping out from behind a partition to watch the five Chinese men in the centre of the room.
They are going through a carefully choreographed series of martial arts moves, making them look graceful and ethereal. It is the final scene - an emotional and physical one - in playwright Renee Liang's The Bone Feeder.
The men look towards the high ceiling, imagining how in the theatre martial arts will be combined with high-wire flying - a proposition for Dragon Origin, New Zealand's first martial arts stunts company, and stunt choreographer and actor Willie Ying to co-ordinate.
Liang and the production team, which includes director Lauren Jackson, believe it's the first time a local professional play has combined martial arts and high-wire flying.
It's also the first time New Zealanders, particularly those of Chinese descent, have had a significant piece of their history presented to them in such a large-scale production.
Jackson says the 19-strong cast, live music, high-wire martial arts, dance, drama and comedy must complement the story rather than distract from it.
"We must make sure during rehearsals that we stop, talk and share ideas so a cohesive direction and vision run through the piece because it's telling such an important and moving story."
Far from contemporary Grey Lynn, the SS Ventnor was en route from Otago in 1902 when she sank in the Hokianga Harbour with the bones of 499 Chinese miners bound for ancestral graves in Canton on board.
It was considered important for Chinese to return to their home villages so many of the men who migrated to New Zealand to work - mainly in the gold fields - thought of themselves as temporary visitors.
They always intended to return to China once they made enough money but life was harsh and many of them never made it home.
Those who died here were buried in temporary graves but the local Chinese community, led by Choie Sew Hoy, raised by subscription the then vast sum of £4000 to charter the Ventnor and carry the exhumed bones home to China.
"It was believed that people needed to return to their home villages in order to watch over their descendants and, in return, have their graves looked after and spirits nourished," says Liang.
But the bones never made it after the Ventnor struck a rock and sank near Hokianga Harbour. The coffins and bones were lost, along with 13 crewmen.
Some of the coffins and bones were washed ashore where, local stories reveal, they were found by Maori and buried in family urupa.
The Bone Feeder gives voice to the ghosts of the Chinese men and the iwi who found their remains, taking the historical fact as the basis for a fictional exploration of family, identity, and love and loss.
It follows Ben (played by Kevin Ng), a fifth generation Chinese New Zealander, who travels to present-day Hokianga to search for the bones of his great, great grandfather.
Once there, he meets some unusual "locals" who may - or may not - be mischievous ghosts.
The play also tells the story of Kwan (played by Gary Young, last seen as Chinese Jack in Underbelly: Land of the Long Green Cloud), who migrates to New Zealand in the 1880s and must decide where he belongs.
"Historical facts are historical facts," says Young, "but what intrigued me was the emotional journey of these characters. Love, fear, loss - they all contribute to universal stories and that interests me as an actor.
"Few people have heard this story before and there's nothing like it on the theatrical landscape so it means at last those Chinese men have a voice and that's important."
While The Bone Feeder has been performed before outside Auckland, Liang describes those shows more as development seasons.
With feedback from the audiences, she has developed the script into a piece of magical realism which now includes a story about one of the first contacts between New Zealand Chinese and Maori communities.
Liang has added Maori characters, notably a ferryman played by Rob Mokoraka, and details about how Te Roroa and Te Rarawa iwi dealt with the discovery of bones and coffins when they washed up on the shoreline.
She admits to fearing she didn't have the necessary knowledge or background to include a tangata whenua element and tried to avoid doing so.
"The first draft didn't have any Maori characters or stories, but people said I needed them. At first, I tried to get away with including Maori music but I realised I needed someone to speak for the land and the people of the land.
"Local Maori found the bones and, realising they needed someone to watch over them, took guardianship of them. It is a shared history."
Mokoraka, who is of Ngapuhi ancestry and grew up in the Hokianga, had never heard the Ventnor story before and travelled home to speak to elderly relatives about it.
While they knew of other ship wrecks in the harbour, the Ventnor sinking was also news to them.
"My family lives in Panguru, down the road from where the play is set. Everyone at home was fascinated to hear the story and to know that, at one point, there had been, relatively speaking, a sizeable Chinese population up there. I just love finding out about this."
Another of the cast discovered a direct link to the Ventnor. Llanyon Eli Joe, who plays Dan the miner, had a great grandfather who opened a store on the same street and in competition with Choie Sew Hoy.
He would almost certainly have been friends with some of the men who ended up on the Ventnor.
Liang and the cast acknowledge a responsibility to present a nuanced and rounded story, which demonstrates the complex decisions many of these men faced, particularly given that The Bone Feeder is based on real-life events which still resonate for the descendants of those early Chinese migrants.
Young says he likes that Liang hasn't shied away from presenting the men's faults.
"It's great that it doesn't try to sweep away the blemishes. As an actor, you have to play it with integrity and our responsibility is to get the story out there in the best possible form."
Having worked for years on the Italian-Maori World War II story Strange Resting Places, Mokoraka says the best advice he got was not to treat historical figures like gods but human beings with flaws.
"Then you can start to tell a story warts and all because it's the grey areas that are the most interesting."
The Chinese community, representing the 499 men, as well as the descendants of Choie Sew Hoy, are in the process of thanking the appropriate iwi for their care of the bones and, in the long term, there may be a public celebration. The Chinese community is considering building a memorial at a suitable site to commemorate the lost souls of the Ventnor shipwreck.
Performance
What: The Bone Feeder
Where & When: Tapac, Western Springs, November 10-20
By Dionne Christian
Ghost investigators, from left, Vicki Wedd, 43, Andrew Farrell, 23, Jennifer Jansen, 27, and Mark Wallbank, 42, in a cemetery on Glenfield Rd. Photo / Janna Dixon Ghost hunters in for the chill
11:16 AM Saturday Nov 5, 2011
In a Grey Lynn art gallery and studio packed with trestle tables and stacks of chairs, pots of paint, lumps of clay and half-finished drawings, an artist diligently keeps his eyes on his work rather than stepping out from behind a partition to watch the five Chinese men in the centre of the room.
They are going through a carefully choreographed series of martial arts moves, making them look graceful and ethereal. It is the final scene - an emotional and physical one - in playwright Renee Liang's The Bone Feeder.
The men look towards the high ceiling, imagining how in the theatre martial arts will be combined with high-wire flying - a proposition for Dragon Origin, New Zealand's first martial arts stunts company, and stunt choreographer and actor Willie Ying to co-ordinate.
Liang and the production team, which includes director Lauren Jackson, believe it's the first time a local professional play has combined martial arts and high-wire flying.
It's also the first time New Zealanders, particularly those of Chinese descent, have had a significant piece of their history presented to them in such a large-scale production.
Jackson says the 19-strong cast, live music, high-wire martial arts, dance, drama and comedy must complement the story rather than distract from it.
"We must make sure during rehearsals that we stop, talk and share ideas so a cohesive direction and vision run through the piece because it's telling such an important and moving story."
Far from contemporary Grey Lynn, the SS Ventnor was en route from Otago in 1902 when she sank in the Hokianga Harbour with the bones of 499 Chinese miners bound for ancestral graves in Canton on board.
It was considered important for Chinese to return to their home villages so many of the men who migrated to New Zealand to work - mainly in the gold fields - thought of themselves as temporary visitors.
They always intended to return to China once they made enough money but life was harsh and many of them never made it home.
Those who died here were buried in temporary graves but the local Chinese community, led by Choie Sew Hoy, raised by subscription the then vast sum of £4000 to charter the Ventnor and carry the exhumed bones home to China.
"It was believed that people needed to return to their home villages in order to watch over their descendants and, in return, have their graves looked after and spirits nourished," says Liang.
But the bones never made it after the Ventnor struck a rock and sank near Hokianga Harbour. The coffins and bones were lost, along with 13 crewmen.
Some of the coffins and bones were washed ashore where, local stories reveal, they were found by Maori and buried in family urupa.
The Bone Feeder gives voice to the ghosts of the Chinese men and the iwi who found their remains, taking the historical fact as the basis for a fictional exploration of family, identity, and love and loss.
It follows Ben (played by Kevin Ng), a fifth generation Chinese New Zealander, who travels to present-day Hokianga to search for the bones of his great, great grandfather.
Once there, he meets some unusual "locals" who may - or may not - be mischievous ghosts.
The play also tells the story of Kwan (played by Gary Young, last seen as Chinese Jack in Underbelly: Land of the Long Green Cloud), who migrates to New Zealand in the 1880s and must decide where he belongs.
"Historical facts are historical facts," says Young, "but what intrigued me was the emotional journey of these characters. Love, fear, loss - they all contribute to universal stories and that interests me as an actor.
"Few people have heard this story before and there's nothing like it on the theatrical landscape so it means at last those Chinese men have a voice and that's important."
While The Bone Feeder has been performed before outside Auckland, Liang describes those shows more as development seasons.
With feedback from the audiences, she has developed the script into a piece of magical realism which now includes a story about one of the first contacts between New Zealand Chinese and Maori communities.
Liang has added Maori characters, notably a ferryman played by Rob Mokoraka, and details about how Te Roroa and Te Rarawa iwi dealt with the discovery of bones and coffins when they washed up on the shoreline.
She admits to fearing she didn't have the necessary knowledge or background to include a tangata whenua element and tried to avoid doing so.
"The first draft didn't have any Maori characters or stories, but people said I needed them. At first, I tried to get away with including Maori music but I realised I needed someone to speak for the land and the people of the land.
"Local Maori found the bones and, realising they needed someone to watch over them, took guardianship of them. It is a shared history."
Mokoraka, who is of Ngapuhi ancestry and grew up in the Hokianga, had never heard the Ventnor story before and travelled home to speak to elderly relatives about it.
While they knew of other ship wrecks in the harbour, the Ventnor sinking was also news to them.
"My family lives in Panguru, down the road from where the play is set. Everyone at home was fascinated to hear the story and to know that, at one point, there had been, relatively speaking, a sizeable Chinese population up there. I just love finding out about this."
Another of the cast discovered a direct link to the Ventnor. Llanyon Eli Joe, who plays Dan the miner, had a great grandfather who opened a store on the same street and in competition with Choie Sew Hoy.
He would almost certainly have been friends with some of the men who ended up on the Ventnor.
Liang and the cast acknowledge a responsibility to present a nuanced and rounded story, which demonstrates the complex decisions many of these men faced, particularly given that The Bone Feeder is based on real-life events which still resonate for the descendants of those early Chinese migrants.
Young says he likes that Liang hasn't shied away from presenting the men's faults.
"It's great that it doesn't try to sweep away the blemishes. As an actor, you have to play it with integrity and our responsibility is to get the story out there in the best possible form."
Having worked for years on the Italian-Maori World War II story Strange Resting Places, Mokoraka says the best advice he got was not to treat historical figures like gods but human beings with flaws.
"Then you can start to tell a story warts and all because it's the grey areas that are the most interesting."
The Chinese community, representing the 499 men, as well as the descendants of Choie Sew Hoy, are in the process of thanking the appropriate iwi for their care of the bones and, in the long term, there may be a public celebration. The Chinese community is considering building a memorial at a suitable site to commemorate the lost souls of the Ventnor shipwreck.
Performance
What: The Bone Feeder
Where & When: Tapac, Western Springs, November 10-20
By Dionne Christian
Ghost investigators, from left, Vicki Wedd, 43, Andrew Farrell, 23, Jennifer Jansen, 27, and Mark Wallbank, 42, in a cemetery on Glenfield Rd. Photo / Janna Dixon Ghost hunters in for the chill
Intriguing play misses its mark
The Bone Feeder
The Globe Theatre, March 30-31.
Directed by Simon Zhou.
The story of the shipwrecked SS Ventnor is a poignant one.
In 1902, a ship carrying the bones of almost 500 Chinese miners set off from New Zealand towards their final resting place in China.
They made it as far as the Hokianga harbour, before sinking.
The Bone Feeder is based on this largely untold story. It focuses on Ben, played by Auckland Boys' Grammar student Jae Woo, who has promised his dying father he will find the bones of his great-great-grandfather, lost in the wreck.
Enter Maori ferry man Melvin Wani, who knows a thing or two about ancestors and the tangata whenua. Ben meets the ghost of his great-great-grandfather, played by Benjamin Teh, and eventually discovers what it means to be part of a family.
This play is original. Ben is a fifth generation Kiwi, of Chinese ancestry. He doesn't know how to speak the language, and feels detached from his family and culture. This is a contemporary issue that should be addressed.
The music is fantastic, with a live three-piece Chinese band playing traditional instruments with haunting precision.
Teh is outstanding as the long-dead ancestor, with a stage presence that demands attention.
But this play doesn't quite hit the mark. Ben's unresolved problems with his dead father distract attention from the adaptation of Chinese settlers to New Zealand and the cultural similarities with Maori.
There were long soliloquies which relied on Woo's acting to bring them alive – a tough ask for any young actor. And the ghosts were confusing, comedic one minute and morose the next.
Some scenes are beautiful though, and the message is good. It's on tonight.
- The Manawatu Standard
BY MICHELLE DUFF
Last updated 12:00 31/03/2010
The Globe Theatre, March 30-31.
Directed by Simon Zhou.
The story of the shipwrecked SS Ventnor is a poignant one.
In 1902, a ship carrying the bones of almost 500 Chinese miners set off from New Zealand towards their final resting place in China.
They made it as far as the Hokianga harbour, before sinking.
The Bone Feeder is based on this largely untold story. It focuses on Ben, played by Auckland Boys' Grammar student Jae Woo, who has promised his dying father he will find the bones of his great-great-grandfather, lost in the wreck.
Enter Maori ferry man Melvin Wani, who knows a thing or two about ancestors and the tangata whenua. Ben meets the ghost of his great-great-grandfather, played by Benjamin Teh, and eventually discovers what it means to be part of a family.
This play is original. Ben is a fifth generation Kiwi, of Chinese ancestry. He doesn't know how to speak the language, and feels detached from his family and culture. This is a contemporary issue that should be addressed.
The music is fantastic, with a live three-piece Chinese band playing traditional instruments with haunting precision.
Teh is outstanding as the long-dead ancestor, with a stage presence that demands attention.
But this play doesn't quite hit the mark. Ben's unresolved problems with his dead father distract attention from the adaptation of Chinese settlers to New Zealand and the cultural similarities with Maori.
There were long soliloquies which relied on Woo's acting to bring them alive – a tough ask for any young actor. And the ghosts were confusing, comedic one minute and morose the next.
Some scenes are beautiful though, and the message is good. It's on tonight.
- The Manawatu Standard
BY MICHELLE DUFF
Last updated 12:00 31/03/2010
The '1.5 generation'
Renee Liang's mother used to send her to school with two lunchboxes - one for her classmates to try all the "weird stuff" and one for Renee.
This scene, along with other real-life incidents, is on stage in Liang's new play First Asian A* B* - the A* B* refers to a team name they can't legally use.
Liang, who wrote The Bone Feeder and Lantern, is a New Zealand-born Asian, and is also a consultant paediatrician.
She feels it's time to tell the story of the '1.5' generation - people who are not first generation New Zealanders but who emigrated when young and grew up here.
"Coming from an inherited immigrant background, with a 'difference' which is sometimes more visible to others than to myself, I often wonder,'What defines me as Kiwi?'."
She cites veteran playwright, actor and director Oscar Kightley, responsible for Niu Sila and Fresh Off The Boat as influential in her decision to become a playwright.
Liang's younger sister Roseanne wrote and directed a movie earlier this year, My Wedding and Other Secrets, which had an autobiographical element, much like Liang's play.
First Asian A* B* came about in several ways.
"I was touring with another play which had 12 boys and we got wondering if there had actually been an Asian All Black.
"I know a lot of Asian immigrants.
- Hutt News
The '1.5 generation'
BY PRIYANKA BHONSULE
Mateship in sport:In Renee Liang's new play, Paul Fagamalo and Ben Teh play mates whose friendship is tested when an All Black spot is up for grabs.
This scene, along with other real-life incidents, is on stage in Liang's new play First Asian A* B* - the A* B* refers to a team name they can't legally use.
Liang, who wrote The Bone Feeder and Lantern, is a New Zealand-born Asian, and is also a consultant paediatrician.
She feels it's time to tell the story of the '1.5' generation - people who are not first generation New Zealanders but who emigrated when young and grew up here.
"Coming from an inherited immigrant background, with a 'difference' which is sometimes more visible to others than to myself, I often wonder,'What defines me as Kiwi?'."
She cites veteran playwright, actor and director Oscar Kightley, responsible for Niu Sila and Fresh Off The Boat as influential in her decision to become a playwright.
Liang's younger sister Roseanne wrote and directed a movie earlier this year, My Wedding and Other Secrets, which had an autobiographical element, much like Liang's play.
First Asian A* B* came about in several ways.
"I was touring with another play which had 12 boys and we got wondering if there had actually been an Asian All Black.
"I know a lot of Asian immigrants.
- Hutt News
The '1.5 generation'
BY PRIYANKA BHONSULE
Mateship in sport:In Renee Liang's new play, Paul Fagamalo and Ben Teh play mates whose friendship is tested when an All Black spot is up for grabs.
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
The Bone Feeder
The Bone Feeder, Auckland, 9 November 2011 – 20 November 2011
How far would you go to find your family?
In 1902 the coffins of 499 Chinese immigrants from Otago and Wellington were being repatriated to their home towns in China when their ship, the SS Ventnor, tragically sank near the Hokianga Harbour. The Bone Feeder follows the trials of a young man called Ben who seeks to find the lost bones of his great-great grandfather and to bring them home, and of Kwan, a man who emigrates to NZ in the 1800s and has to decide where he belongs.
Exploring one of the first times of contact between Maori and Chinese the play is a fictional exploration of what is for many Chinese New Zealanders a very real and significant piece of their history. Written by playwright and poet Renee Liang and directed by Lauren Jackson the play uses poetry, music, drama and comedy and features a multicultural cast who perform together with musicians playing traditional Chinese and Maori instruments. The Bone Feeder is a New Zealand play with a difference, a contemporary Western theatre piece which draws on the traditions of Asian storytelling.
How far would you go to find your family?
In 1902 the coffins of 499 Chinese immigrants from Otago and Wellington were being repatriated to their home towns in China when their ship, the SS Ventnor, tragically sank near the Hokianga Harbour. The Bone Feeder follows the trials of a young man called Ben who seeks to find the lost bones of his great-great grandfather and to bring them home, and of Kwan, a man who emigrates to NZ in the 1800s and has to decide where he belongs.
Exploring one of the first times of contact between Maori and Chinese the play is a fictional exploration of what is for many Chinese New Zealanders a very real and significant piece of their history. Written by playwright and poet Renee Liang and directed by Lauren Jackson the play uses poetry, music, drama and comedy and features a multicultural cast who perform together with musicians playing traditional Chinese and Maori instruments. The Bone Feeder is a New Zealand play with a difference, a contemporary Western theatre piece which draws on the traditions of Asian storytelling.
Saturday, November 05, 2011
The lovely bones
By Dionne Christian
11:16 AM Saturday Nov 5, 2011
The Bone Feeder actor Llanyon Eli Joe. Photo / APN
In a Grey Lynn art gallery and studio packed with trestle tables and stacks of chairs, pots of paint, lumps of clay and half-finished drawings, an artist diligently keeps his eyes on his work rather than stepping out from behind a partition to watch the five Chinese men in the centre of the room.
They are going through a carefully choreographed series of martial arts moves, making them look graceful and ethereal. It is the final scene - an emotional and physical one - in playwright Renee Liang's The Bone Feeder.
The men look towards the high ceiling, imagining how in the theatre martial arts will be combined with high-wire flying - a proposition for Dragon Origin, New Zealand's first martial arts stunts company, and stunt choreographer and actor Willie Ying to co-ordinate.
Liang and the production team, which includes director Lauren Jackson, believe it's the first time a local professional play has combined martial arts and high-wire flying.
It's also the first time New Zealanders, particularly those of Chinese descent, have had a significant piece of their history presented to them in such a large-scale production.
Jackson says the 19-strong cast, live music, high-wire martial arts, dance, drama and comedy must complement the story rather than distract from it.
"We must make sure during rehearsals that we stop, talk and share ideas so a cohesive direction and vision run through the piece because it's telling such an important and moving story."
Far from contemporary Grey Lynn, the SS Ventnor was en route from Otago in 1902 when she sank in the Hokianga Harbour with the bones of 499 Chinese miners bound for ancestral graves in Canton on board.
It was considered important for Chinese to return to their home villages so many of the men who migrated to New Zealand to work - mainly in the gold fields - thought of themselves as temporary visitors.
They always intended to return to China once they made enough money but life was harsh and many of them never made it home.
Those who died here were buried in temporary graves but the local Chinese community, led by Choie Sew Hoy, raised by subscription the then vast sum of £4000 to charter the Ventnor and carry the exhumed bones home to China.
"It was believed that people needed to return to their home villages in order to watch over their descendants and, in return, have their graves looked after and spirits nourished," says Liang.
But the bones never made it after the Ventnor struck a rock and sank near Hokianga Harbour. The coffins and bones were lost, along with 13 crewmen.
Some of the coffins and bones were washed ashore where, local stories reveal, they were found by Maori and buried in family urupa.
The Bone Feeder gives voice to the ghosts of the Chinese men and the iwi who found their remains, taking the historical fact as the basis for a fictional exploration of family, identity, and love and loss.
It follows Ben (played by Kevin Ng), a fifth generation Chinese New Zealander, who travels to present-day Hokianga to search for the bones of his great, great grandfather.
Once there, he meets some unusual "locals" who may - or may not - be mischievous ghosts.
The play also tells the story of Kwan (played by Gary Young, last seen as Chinese Jack in Underbelly: Land of the Long Green Cloud), who migrates to New Zealand in the 1880s and must decide where he belongs.
"Historical facts are historical facts," says Young, "but what intrigued me was the emotional journey of these characters. Love, fear, loss - they all contribute to universal stories and that interests me as an actor.
"Few people have heard this story before and there's nothing like it on the theatrical landscape so it means at last those Chinese men have a voice and that's important."
While The Bone Feeder has been performed before outside Auckland, Liang describes those shows more as development seasons.
With feedback from the audiences, she has developed the script into a piece of magical realism which now includes a story about one of the first contacts between New Zealand Chinese and Maori communities.
Liang has added Maori characters, notably a ferryman played by Rob Mokoraka, and details about how Te Roroa and Te Rarawa iwi dealt with the discovery of bones and coffins when they washed up on the shoreline.
She admits to fearing she didn't have the necessary knowledge or background to include a tangata whenua element and tried to avoid doing so.
"The first draft didn't have any Maori characters or stories, but people said I needed them. At first, I tried to get away with including Maori music but I realised I needed someone to speak for the land and the people of the land.
"Local Maori found the bones and, realising they needed someone to watch over them, took guardianship of them. It is a shared history."
Mokoraka, who is of Ngapuhi ancestry and grew up in the Hokianga, had never heard the Ventnor story before and travelled home to speak to elderly relatives about it.
While they knew of other ship wrecks in the harbour, the Ventnor sinking was also news to them.
"My family lives in Panguru, down the road from where the play is set. Everyone at home was fascinated to hear the story and to know that, at one point, there had been, relatively speaking, a sizeable Chinese population up there. I just love finding out about this."
Another of the cast discovered a direct link to the Ventnor. Llanyon Eli Joe, who plays Dan the miner, had a great grandfather who opened a store on the same street and in competition with Choie Sew Hoy.
He would almost certainly have been friends with some of the men who ended up on the Ventnor.
Liang and the cast acknowledge a responsibility to present a nuanced and rounded story, which demonstrates the complex decisions many of these men faced, particularly given that The Bone Feeder is based on real-life events which still resonate for the descendants of those early Chinese migrants.
Young says he likes that Liang hasn't shied away from presenting the men's faults.
"It's great that it doesn't try to sweep away the blemishes. As an actor, you have to play it with integrity and our responsibility is to get the story out there in the best possible form."
Having worked for years on the Italian-Maori World War II story Strange Resting Places, Mokoraka says the best advice he got was not to treat historical figures like gods but human beings with flaws.
"Then you can start to tell a story warts and all because it's the grey areas that are the most interesting."
The Chinese community, representing the 499 men, as well as the descendants of Choie Sew Hoy, are in the process of thanking the appropriate iwi for their care of the bones and, in the long term, there may be a public celebration. The Chinese community is considering building a memorial at a suitable site to commemorate the lost souls of the Ventnor shipwreck.
Performance
What: The Bone Feeder
Where & When: Tapac, Western Springs, November 10-20
By Dionne Christian
11:16 AM Saturday Nov 5, 2011
The Bone Feeder actor Llanyon Eli Joe. Photo / APN
In a Grey Lynn art gallery and studio packed with trestle tables and stacks of chairs, pots of paint, lumps of clay and half-finished drawings, an artist diligently keeps his eyes on his work rather than stepping out from behind a partition to watch the five Chinese men in the centre of the room.
They are going through a carefully choreographed series of martial arts moves, making them look graceful and ethereal. It is the final scene - an emotional and physical one - in playwright Renee Liang's The Bone Feeder.
The men look towards the high ceiling, imagining how in the theatre martial arts will be combined with high-wire flying - a proposition for Dragon Origin, New Zealand's first martial arts stunts company, and stunt choreographer and actor Willie Ying to co-ordinate.
Liang and the production team, which includes director Lauren Jackson, believe it's the first time a local professional play has combined martial arts and high-wire flying.
It's also the first time New Zealanders, particularly those of Chinese descent, have had a significant piece of their history presented to them in such a large-scale production.
Jackson says the 19-strong cast, live music, high-wire martial arts, dance, drama and comedy must complement the story rather than distract from it.
"We must make sure during rehearsals that we stop, talk and share ideas so a cohesive direction and vision run through the piece because it's telling such an important and moving story."
Far from contemporary Grey Lynn, the SS Ventnor was en route from Otago in 1902 when she sank in the Hokianga Harbour with the bones of 499 Chinese miners bound for ancestral graves in Canton on board.
It was considered important for Chinese to return to their home villages so many of the men who migrated to New Zealand to work - mainly in the gold fields - thought of themselves as temporary visitors.
They always intended to return to China once they made enough money but life was harsh and many of them never made it home.
Those who died here were buried in temporary graves but the local Chinese community, led by Choie Sew Hoy, raised by subscription the then vast sum of £4000 to charter the Ventnor and carry the exhumed bones home to China.
"It was believed that people needed to return to their home villages in order to watch over their descendants and, in return, have their graves looked after and spirits nourished," says Liang.
But the bones never made it after the Ventnor struck a rock and sank near Hokianga Harbour. The coffins and bones were lost, along with 13 crewmen.
Some of the coffins and bones were washed ashore where, local stories reveal, they were found by Maori and buried in family urupa.
The Bone Feeder gives voice to the ghosts of the Chinese men and the iwi who found their remains, taking the historical fact as the basis for a fictional exploration of family, identity, and love and loss.
It follows Ben (played by Kevin Ng), a fifth generation Chinese New Zealander, who travels to present-day Hokianga to search for the bones of his great, great grandfather.
Once there, he meets some unusual "locals" who may - or may not - be mischievous ghosts.
The play also tells the story of Kwan (played by Gary Young, last seen as Chinese Jack in Underbelly: Land of the Long Green Cloud), who migrates to New Zealand in the 1880s and must decide where he belongs.
"Historical facts are historical facts," says Young, "but what intrigued me was the emotional journey of these characters. Love, fear, loss - they all contribute to universal stories and that interests me as an actor.
"Few people have heard this story before and there's nothing like it on the theatrical landscape so it means at last those Chinese men have a voice and that's important."
While The Bone Feeder has been performed before outside Auckland, Liang describes those shows more as development seasons.
With feedback from the audiences, she has developed the script into a piece of magical realism which now includes a story about one of the first contacts between New Zealand Chinese and Maori communities.
Liang has added Maori characters, notably a ferryman played by Rob Mokoraka, and details about how Te Roroa and Te Rarawa iwi dealt with the discovery of bones and coffins when they washed up on the shoreline.
She admits to fearing she didn't have the necessary knowledge or background to include a tangata whenua element and tried to avoid doing so.
"The first draft didn't have any Maori characters or stories, but people said I needed them. At first, I tried to get away with including Maori music but I realised I needed someone to speak for the land and the people of the land.
"Local Maori found the bones and, realising they needed someone to watch over them, took guardianship of them. It is a shared history."
Mokoraka, who is of Ngapuhi ancestry and grew up in the Hokianga, had never heard the Ventnor story before and travelled home to speak to elderly relatives about it.
While they knew of other ship wrecks in the harbour, the Ventnor sinking was also news to them.
"My family lives in Panguru, down the road from where the play is set. Everyone at home was fascinated to hear the story and to know that, at one point, there had been, relatively speaking, a sizeable Chinese population up there. I just love finding out about this."
Another of the cast discovered a direct link to the Ventnor. Llanyon Eli Joe, who plays Dan the miner, had a great grandfather who opened a store on the same street and in competition with Choie Sew Hoy.
He would almost certainly have been friends with some of the men who ended up on the Ventnor.
Liang and the cast acknowledge a responsibility to present a nuanced and rounded story, which demonstrates the complex decisions many of these men faced, particularly given that The Bone Feeder is based on real-life events which still resonate for the descendants of those early Chinese migrants.
Young says he likes that Liang hasn't shied away from presenting the men's faults.
"It's great that it doesn't try to sweep away the blemishes. As an actor, you have to play it with integrity and our responsibility is to get the story out there in the best possible form."
Having worked for years on the Italian-Maori World War II story Strange Resting Places, Mokoraka says the best advice he got was not to treat historical figures like gods but human beings with flaws.
"Then you can start to tell a story warts and all because it's the grey areas that are the most interesting."
The Chinese community, representing the 499 men, as well as the descendants of Choie Sew Hoy, are in the process of thanking the appropriate iwi for their care of the bones and, in the long term, there may be a public celebration. The Chinese community is considering building a memorial at a suitable site to commemorate the lost souls of the Ventnor shipwreck.
Performance
What: The Bone Feeder
Where & When: Tapac, Western Springs, November 10-20
By Dionne Christian
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Doctor rewrites the script
Doctor rewrites the script
Rebecca Blithe | Saturday, August 27, 2011 6:00
Renee Liang is a playwright, paediatrician and researcher. Shes preparing for the debut of her play The First Asian All Black - about a young immigrant wanting to get into rugby.
Renee Liang is a playwright, paediatrician and researcher. Shes preparing for the debut of her play The First Asian All Black - about a young immigrant wanting to get into rugby.
Kellie Blizard
Rebecca Blithe encounters doctor and writer Renee Liang at the Jungle Cafe in Grey Lynn to talk about how she's exploring growth as a nation.
Her Chinese name means literary blossom, Renee Liang tells me. "My mother told me halfway through med school that my grandfather had decided there were already too many doctors in the family."
But, despite that direction - or because of it - Renee is a pediatrician, a playwright and poet with a master's degree in creative writing, a researcher and an advocate for youth art.
Seated in a corner of the Jungle Cafe in Grey Lynn, Renee is a small character. Or, rather, a small person with a big character.
As we sit and talk about her work on a sharp-aired, soft-sunned morning, the veranda offering a view to the rows of open-fisted London plane trees lining the suburban streets, she flits between thoughtful, demure moments and vivacious enthusiasm.
"I'm older than I look," says the smooth-skinned 38-year-old.
"I have four degrees, I like to keep busy, I don't like to have a lot of downtime."
She pauses pensively. "I have a totally weird life," she says with a laugh as if the fact has only just occurred to her.
"I have a lot of fictional versions of myself," she says of her plays, which draw on her own experiences, and of her moviemaker sister's depiction of her in what became the hit film, My Wedding and Other Secrets.
New Zealander-born Chinese Renee has two new plays in the wings. They reflect her intrigue about the history of Chinese in New Zealand and consider what it is that makes someone "Kiwi".
The Bone Feeder explores the story of the SS Ventnor, a ship which set out in 1902 to carry the bodies of Chinese back to their families. But they never made it home. The ship sank in Hokianga Harbour. Eventually, the remains were discovered and honoured by locals.
"The guy who had been instrumental in organising the first ship died and was put on the second ship," says Renee of her play's central character, the ghost of Choie Sew Hoy. "He has something like 2000 descendants. I've been in touch with some of them. Early Chinese history [in New Zealand] is largely unknown. In some communities they were well accepted. But there was racism from both sides."
The First Asian AB - the acronym used because the words "All Blacks" are trademarked - follows a young immigrant who decides he wants to become an All Black. For this, Renee had to immerse herself in rugby culture.
"I never grew up playing sport," she says. "I never knew how to watch a rugby game. It's really interesting because Kiwi Asian theatre is at the stage of Pacific theatre 15 years ago."
In addition to her work as a playwright, she has been involved in several youth projects, including An Absolute Rush - a grassroots performing arts scheme for at-risk youth in South Auckland. "The thing about these kids was that no one had said, 'Your stories are valid'. They were so talented, the most natural singers, actors, dancers, comedians."
She was initially intimidated but was soon completely enamoured. "I ended up performing a really bad rap in front of them and their parents. They were all rolling around laughing at me."
During her time with the group she researched the benefits of art projects on youth health. At present she is completing a University of Auckland study: "Growing up in New Zealand".
Playwright and paediatrician may seem a strange combination. "I did paediatrics because I noticed how paediatricians stay young - my Dad's one. My favourite thing is watching kids develop and discover things about themselves."
But Renee, who was granted a Sir Peter Blake Leadership Award last year, says the medical and literary roles are complementary.
"I look at the stories that drive everyone. As a doctor, you're trained to look under the surface. You get a sixth sense of what people are trying to tell you. As a playwright and poet, I'm looking under my own skin and finding that story. Everyone's story can be universal. Getting to hear about them and tell them, it's a real privilege."
Fine China
The First Asian AB, Basement Studio, September 13-18, 6pm. Book at www.iticket.co.nz or ph 361 1000 or 0508 iTICKET; or at Real Groovy, 438 Queen St, or Conch Records, 115A Ponsonby Rd.
The Bone Feeder runs November 7-20 at TAPAC, Western Springs. For booking information contact roger@tapac.org.nz or ph 845 0295 ext 1.
http://www.theaucklander.co.nz/news/doctor-rewrites-the-script/1080338/
Rebecca Blithe | Saturday, August 27, 2011 6:00
Renee Liang is a playwright, paediatrician and researcher. Shes preparing for the debut of her play The First Asian All Black - about a young immigrant wanting to get into rugby.
Renee Liang is a playwright, paediatrician and researcher. Shes preparing for the debut of her play The First Asian All Black - about a young immigrant wanting to get into rugby.
Kellie Blizard
Rebecca Blithe encounters doctor and writer Renee Liang at the Jungle Cafe in Grey Lynn to talk about how she's exploring growth as a nation.
Her Chinese name means literary blossom, Renee Liang tells me. "My mother told me halfway through med school that my grandfather had decided there were already too many doctors in the family."
But, despite that direction - or because of it - Renee is a pediatrician, a playwright and poet with a master's degree in creative writing, a researcher and an advocate for youth art.
Seated in a corner of the Jungle Cafe in Grey Lynn, Renee is a small character. Or, rather, a small person with a big character.
As we sit and talk about her work on a sharp-aired, soft-sunned morning, the veranda offering a view to the rows of open-fisted London plane trees lining the suburban streets, she flits between thoughtful, demure moments and vivacious enthusiasm.
"I'm older than I look," says the smooth-skinned 38-year-old.
"I have four degrees, I like to keep busy, I don't like to have a lot of downtime."
She pauses pensively. "I have a totally weird life," she says with a laugh as if the fact has only just occurred to her.
"I have a lot of fictional versions of myself," she says of her plays, which draw on her own experiences, and of her moviemaker sister's depiction of her in what became the hit film, My Wedding and Other Secrets.
New Zealander-born Chinese Renee has two new plays in the wings. They reflect her intrigue about the history of Chinese in New Zealand and consider what it is that makes someone "Kiwi".
The Bone Feeder explores the story of the SS Ventnor, a ship which set out in 1902 to carry the bodies of Chinese back to their families. But they never made it home. The ship sank in Hokianga Harbour. Eventually, the remains were discovered and honoured by locals.
"The guy who had been instrumental in organising the first ship died and was put on the second ship," says Renee of her play's central character, the ghost of Choie Sew Hoy. "He has something like 2000 descendants. I've been in touch with some of them. Early Chinese history [in New Zealand] is largely unknown. In some communities they were well accepted. But there was racism from both sides."
The First Asian AB - the acronym used because the words "All Blacks" are trademarked - follows a young immigrant who decides he wants to become an All Black. For this, Renee had to immerse herself in rugby culture.
"I never grew up playing sport," she says. "I never knew how to watch a rugby game. It's really interesting because Kiwi Asian theatre is at the stage of Pacific theatre 15 years ago."
In addition to her work as a playwright, she has been involved in several youth projects, including An Absolute Rush - a grassroots performing arts scheme for at-risk youth in South Auckland. "The thing about these kids was that no one had said, 'Your stories are valid'. They were so talented, the most natural singers, actors, dancers, comedians."
She was initially intimidated but was soon completely enamoured. "I ended up performing a really bad rap in front of them and their parents. They were all rolling around laughing at me."
During her time with the group she researched the benefits of art projects on youth health. At present she is completing a University of Auckland study: "Growing up in New Zealand".
Playwright and paediatrician may seem a strange combination. "I did paediatrics because I noticed how paediatricians stay young - my Dad's one. My favourite thing is watching kids develop and discover things about themselves."
But Renee, who was granted a Sir Peter Blake Leadership Award last year, says the medical and literary roles are complementary.
"I look at the stories that drive everyone. As a doctor, you're trained to look under the surface. You get a sixth sense of what people are trying to tell you. As a playwright and poet, I'm looking under my own skin and finding that story. Everyone's story can be universal. Getting to hear about them and tell them, it's a real privilege."
Fine China
The First Asian AB, Basement Studio, September 13-18, 6pm. Book at www.iticket.co.nz or ph 361 1000 or 0508 iTICKET; or at Real Groovy, 438 Queen St, or Conch Records, 115A Ponsonby Rd.
The Bone Feeder runs November 7-20 at TAPAC, Western Springs. For booking information contact roger@tapac.org.nz or ph 845 0295 ext 1.
http://www.theaucklander.co.nz/news/doctor-rewrites-the-script/1080338/
Gwa Leng Wongs In New Zealand
http://www.thereadingroom.com/gwa-leng-wongs-in-new-zealand/bp/4204727
Reprinted - available in New Zealand. Email me
Reprinted - available in New Zealand. Email me
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